Method of covering heels



May 12, 1931. w. H. NUTT METHOD OF COVERING HEELS Filed Jan. 24. 1929/NVENTUR MM #A M Patented May 12, 1931 UNITED" STATES PATENT OFFICECHINERY CORPORATION, JERSEY WILLIAM H. NUTT, OF IBEVERL Y,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MA- OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, ACORPORATION OF NEW IIETHOD or COVERING HEELS Application filed January24, 1929. s m No. 334,716.

This invention relates to improvements in methods of covering heels. Theinvention is herein illustrated in its application to the covering of aCuban heel with a one-piece cover the ends of which meet at the middleof the heel breast, although the invention is by no means limited to thecovering of heels of that type or to the covering of heels with a single"piece of covering material.

It is a common practice to cover the rear, side and breast surfaces of aCuban heel with a one-piece cover the opposite end portions of which areoverlapped at the middle of the breast face of the heel. This practiceresults in the formation of an objectionable bulge or ridge in thecovered breast face where the meeting end portions of the coveroverlap,a condition which defracts from the appearance of the finished ieel.

One object of the resent invention is to facilitate the formation of asmooth, flush joint between meeting portions of a heel covering.

\Vith this object in view, the invention,

in one aspect, provides an improved method of covering heels whichcomprises overla ping two portions of a heel covering upon a lneelsurface to be covered thereby, and cutting diagonally through both coverportions while said portions remain overlapped to form on said coverportions beveled edge faces transversely disposed at the sameinclinations to the adjacent portion of the heel cover surface andadapted to be neatly fitted together so as to form a flush vjoint.Preferably and as illustrated, the trimming is effected by a singleprogressive cutting operation, for exam le, 'bya single stroke of aknife, the kni e being drawn across the overlapped cover portions so asto form simultaneousl two trimmed edge faces which lie int e same plane.As illustrated the trimming cut extends longitudinally ,in a. directionheightwise of the heel and 1t is inclined in a direction widthwise ofthe heel 1 Thus skived or beveled edges are produced which. are disposedrelatively to one another so thatthe edge faces will overff the coverhave been trimmed lap when the cover portions are brou ht togetherwithout causing any bulge or ri go to be produced at the joint.Moreover, as

illustrated, the direction of transverse inclination of the trimming cutis inwardly (i. e., toward the heelbreast) and away from the edge of theoutermost cover portion, inasmuch as this construction enables thetrimmed edges subsequentl tobe brought together without the necessity ofstretching either portion of the cover thereby avoiding any tendencyofthe joined cover portions later'to become separated and the joint tobecome opened up because of shrinkage of the cover material. After theend portions as above e'scribed, the waste material produced by thetrimming operation is removed and the trimmed edges are coated withadhesive, preferably anon-elastic adhesive such as celluloid cement, andpressed firmly together so as to form the desired smooth, flush jointThe invention will now be more particularlydescribed by reference to theaccompanying drawings and thereafter defined 'n the claims.

Inv the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of" a Cuban heel in the process ofbeincovered, the

directed toward the observer and the figure illustrating particularlythe improved method of trimming the meeting portions of the cover;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is. an elevational viewsimilar to Fig. 1 but illustrating afurther step in the a fragmentary sectional view on scale taken alongthe line'lI-JI trimming of the meeting portions of the cover;

80 heel being positione'dwith its breast face 2 I I D a one-piece coverC has been applied in the usualway, the cover extending around andentirely covering the rear, side and breast surfaces of the heel andbeing held in'place by suitable adhesive such as rubber cement or otherelastic and slow drying adhesive. The'heel H may be supported during theheel covering operation, as herein shown, by means of clamping jaws l0and 12 arranged to engage respeo'ively the seat face 3 and the toplift-engaging face t of the heel. The cover C is shown in Figs.- 1 and 2as it appears immediately after it has been'wi-apped around the heel,the lateral margins of the cover projecting beyond the seat and toplift-engaging faces 8 and t, respectively, imposition to be subsequentlylaid against these faces, and the opposite end portions of the coverbeing overlapped at the middle of the heel breast and temporarily heldfirmly together by means of the adhesive initially applied to the cover.

In order -to provide for the formation of aflush joint between themeeting end portio'nspf the cover. C, these cover portions are trimmed,asherein illustrated, in such a Way as to-cause the trimmed edge facesto lie in thesame plane and to be similarly disposed angularly withrespect to the adjacent portions of the heel breast surface. To thisend, a trimmin tool, such for example as the knife 14 (Figs. 1 and 2),is drawn across the heel cover after being positioned substantially'inthe longitudinal and transverse angular relation to the heel shown in IFigs. 1 and 2, with the cutting edge of the .knife extending in adirection hei htwise of the heel breast substantially over t 1e middleof the overlappin portions of the cover. Preferably the knife is firstpresented to the heel with its cutting edge engaging the cover in alocation indicated by the dotted line a: in Fig. l the more accuratelyto gage the location of the trimming cut. Thereafter the knife may betilted more or less to bring .it into the longitudinally inclinedposition shown in Fig. 1 so that as the knife is drawn across the coverit will act simultaneously upon both the outer and inner overlappingcover portions,,cutting through them to the breast surface of the heelto form the trimming cut indicated at'y in Fig. 3. Thus,

as the knife is moved along the heel breast it trims the opposite endportions of the a cover from the top to the bottom of the heel breast ina singleprogressive trimming operation. As cshown,-the trimming knife 14is also inclined transversely (with respect to its direction ofmovement) as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that the trimming cut will beinclined transversely in a direction widthwise of the heel breast. As aresult of this transverse. angular relation of the knife bladerelatively to the heel. breast, the

trimmed edges 'of the cover are skived 0r beveled, as illustrated inFig. 2, and as shown zit-16 and 18 in Fig. 4. Moreover,

the beveled edges of the inner and outer cover portions will berelatively disposed so that the trimmed edge of the outer end portion ofthe cover will extend in the same angular relation to the breast surfaceof the heel as the trimmed edge of the'inner end portion of the cover.Thus when the two beveled edges are brought togetherthe fit one againstthe other. lso, ass own, the direction of transverse inclination of thetrimming knife is inwardly (i. e., toward the heel breast) and away fromthe edge of the outer overlapping end portion of the will cover, therebycausing the beveled edges to Y be so located transversely relatively toeach other as to avoid any necessity for stretching either co. erportion in order to fit together the trimmed edge, as will behereinafter mor; fully explained.

In order to extend the trimming cut through the unsupported margins ofthe cover which extend beyond the seat and top lift-en aging faces ofthe heel, the knife 14, after being drawn across the heel breastas descibed, may then be drawn successively across the projecting cover marginsin such a way as to flatten them'a ainst the seat and top lift-engagingfaces of the heel,

and thereafter to out through them to the surface of the heel,th-iscompletely severing from the heel cover the material partiallyseparated therefrom by the cut initially made across the heel breast. Tofacilitate the laying of the cover margins against the seat and toplift-engaging faces of the heel without danger of overlapping theadjacent end portions of the cover, it

may be desirable to continue the trimming cut through the projectingcover margins by means of scissors. This operation is shown in Fig. 3 asbeing accomplished by means of scissors 20 arranged to cut at asubstantial angle to the cut 1 made by the knife 14 so as to form twooppositely inclined cuts a in each overlap ing end portion of the coverat opposite en s of the bevel cut 1 The scissors ma bereadilymanipulated to vary the angle of cut as may be desired to provideadequate clearance for the projectin lateral margins of the cover asthey are Folded back against the respective end surfaces of the heel.

After the trimming cut 1 has been extended from edge to edge of each ofthe.

overlapping portions of the cover, as by means of the inclined cuts 2,so as to completely to sever from the cover the waste pieces indicatedat w, w in Fig; 2, these waste pieces are removed, it being necessary toraise somewhat the outer end portionof the cover before being able toremove the loo ios

waste piece end portion of the cover is rendered practicable by, theemployment of a .nomelastio While the outer end smoothly against theSuch manipulation of the cover portion a;

not project beyond on the contrary, will exactly register with solidatinv the heel the cover portion a s slow-drying adhesive such as rubbercement, inasmuch-"as the elastic adhesion thus produced between'the endportions of the cover may be readily broken when it is desired to removethe waste trimmed from the inner end portion of the cover. Thereafter,the adhesion may be readily re-established by merely pressin the trimmedend portion of the cover bac against the heel surface.

ortion of the cover remains in raised position thebevelededges 16 and 18are coated with non elastic adhesive such as celluloid cement, bymeanssuch as a brush 22, as shown in Fig; 4. Thereafter the raised portion ofthe cover (indicated at a in Fig. 4) is pressed backwardly against" theheel breast and the beveled edge 16 is pressed firmly against thebeveled edge 18. The adhesive originally applied to the cover and to-theheel will then cause the temporarily raised portion of the cover toadhere to the heel breast while the adhesive applied to the bevelededges 16 and 18 will insure that the beveled edges 16 and 18 will besecurely fastened together. Because of the fact that the end portion aof the cover (on which the beveled edge 16 is formed) originallyoverlapped theopposite end portion of the cover, the" portion a, will beslightly longer (measured in a direction widthwise of the heel breast)than,required .to cover that portion of the breast which still remainsto be covered. Consequently, in

order to insure that the beveled edge 16 will the beveled edge 18but,

the edge 18, the cover portion a may be manipulated while being-laid, asby'me'ans of wipin strokes in the direction of the arrow 6 in ig. 4',soas to efiect the desired accurate registration of the beveled edge faces16 and 18 and to press the cover tightly and heel breast surface.

will result in somewhat compressing orconthe'cover material widthwise ofreast, thereby smoothing out'the cover and removing any fullnesswhich'may be present therein. This action makes allowance for subsequentshrinkage of the cover such as might result in opening up-the 'ointbetween the meeting edges 16 and 18. t is to. be noted that if thebeveled trimming cut is made so that its transverse inclination isinwardly aw'ay'from the edge of 'the'outennost of the overlap ing andortions of'thecoven as hereinbe' ore descri ed,:

it will not be necessary in any 7 case to stretch theend ortion of thecovergwhich is finally to bela d in lace, sothat even if- I ould not bemanipulated for the purpose of compressing it to the joint,

' beveled edge widthwise of the heel breast there will be no inherenttendency for the portion a of the over to pull'away from the other endortionthereof. It is desirable that the a heisive employed for coatingthe beveled edges 16 and 18 will be of non-elastic character which isunaffected by moisture or varying atmospheric conditions, and whichconse "quently will hold the edges permanently and ri 'dly in place.

hen a.-hee1' cover has been applied as above described, njotonly willthe presence of an objectionablebulgeor ridge at the meeting ends of thecoverbe avoided, but, as shown at 22 in Figs. 5' and 6, a smooth flushjoint willbe portions and one which ermanently secures the end portionstoget er and presents a neat and attractive appearance. A joint of thischaracter is articularly well, adapted for securing itoget er'andcelluloid covers. In the case of celluloid covers it is practicable, bybuflihg or polishing the surface of the cover adjacent entirely toobscure the joint, thus giving cover.

7 Having described my invention, what I claim as new and-"desire tosecure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

.1. That improvement in methods of covering heels which consists inoverlapping two portions'of aheel coveringupon a bee surface to becovered thereby, and cutting diagonally through both ofsaid coverportions while thy'remain overlapped to form on said cover portionsbeveled edge faces transversely disposed at the same inclination to theadjacent portion of the heel cover surface, 1

2. That im rovement in methods of covering heels which consistsin'overlap ing two portions of a heel covering upon a eel surface; to becovered thereby, and cutting through both of said cover portionssimultaneously while they remain overlapped to form on said coverportions beveled edge.

faces lying in the same plane.

3. T at improvement in methods of cov formed between these end er theends of both leath-' the :appearanceof'a jointless I ering heels whichconsists in overlappin two portions of a heel covering upon surface tobe covered thereby, through said overlapped cover portions by a singleprogressive cutting operation so as to form on said cover portionsoverlapping faces transversely inclined at the same angle to theadjacent portion ,of the heel cover surface. 4 h

4. That improvement in methods of covering heels which consists inoverlapp1ng.

and cuttingtwo portions .of a heel covering upon a heel surface to becovered-thereby, and cutting through both of said cover portions whilethey remain overlapped to form on-each cover portion a trimmed edge facetransversely inclined relatively to the surfaces of said cover portion5. That improvement in methods of covering heels which consists inwrapping a cover around a heel, overlapping the opposite end portions ofthe cover upon the heel and temporarily securing. them together byelastic adhesive, trimming the overlapping portions of the cover whilethey remain overlapped against the heel, breaking the elastic adhe-S1011 between said end portions, the waste material mlng operation,

removing produced by the trimand permanently securing 'the trimmed edgestogether by non-elastic,

adhesive.

w"- v6.' That improvement in methods of cover- -:ing heels whichconsists in applying a heel covering toarheel and overlapping adjacentheel, trimming-the overportions of the covering by a single of saidoverlapped tion against the heel surface, and fitting and jsecurin toether the trimmed ed 'es.

z: p n

j 7; That improvement methods of covering heels which consists inwrapping a heel covering around a heel, laying one end portion of thecovering uponone of the lateral surfaces of the heel, lapping theopposite end portion of the covering over said rst portion and securingthe overlapped sportions together by elastic adhesion, trimming theoverlapping portions of the covering by a'single progressive cuttingoperation while said portions remain overlapped upon the heel, removingthe waste material produced by the trimming operation, and

. securing the trimmed edges together by nonelastic adhesive. I V

8. That improvement in methods of 00v,- ering heels which consists inwrapping a cover around a heel and overlapping the opposite end portionsof the cover upon the heel, cutting inwardly through saidoverlappedmargins to bevel them at the same angle, removing the wasteproduced by the trimming operation, a d securing the trimmed marginstogether with their beveled faces abutting.

. 9. That improvement in methods of covering heels which-consists inwrapping a cover around a heel and overlapping the opposite end portionsof the cover upon the heel, cutting inwardly through said overlapped endportions to produce beveled cuts V the outermost end portion in eachportion extending longitudinally heightwise of the heel and slopingtransversely inwardly away from the .edge of of the cover, removing thewaste material produced by the trimming operation, fitting the trimmedering heels which consists in j the cover upon ping margin against theheel to smooth out any fullness therein.

10. That improvement in methods of covering heels which consists inwrapping a cover around a heel 'and overlapping the opposite endportions ofthe cover upon the heel, cutting simultaneously thropgh saidoverlapped margins to bevel them at the same angle, removing the wasteproduced by the trimming operation, and securing the beveled edgestogether by celluloid cement.

11. That improvement in methods of covapplying a cover to the rear, sideand breast surfaces of a heel and overlapping the end portions of theheel breast, cutting through both overlapping cover portions while theyremain overlapped against the heel breast to form bevelededges'ext'ending each in the same direction heightwise of the heelbreast and each having the same angle of bevel, removing the wastematerial produced by said cutting operation, and securing the saidbeveled edges together to proering heels which consists in vcovering therear, sides and breast surfaces of a heel with a one-piece cover andoverlapping the opposite end portions of the cover upon the heel breast,drawing a knife simultaneously through both said end portions in adirection inwardly from the edge of said outermost-portion to bevel theedges of said'portions at the same angle, removing the waste materialproduced by the cutting operation, and uniting said beveled edges.

13. That improvement in methods of covering heels which consists inapplying a cover to the rear, side and breast surfaces of a heel andoverlapping the opposite end portions of the cover upon the heel breast,cutting through both overlapping cover portions while they remainoverlapped against the heel breast to form a beveled edge on each ofsaid portions extending heightwise of the heelbreast and inclinedwidthwise of the heel breast inwardly away from the edge of theoutermost of said overlapping cover portions, removing the wastematerial produced b said cutting operation, and securing said bevelededges together to provide a flush joint.

14. That improvement in methods of covering heels which consists incovering the rear, sides and breast surfaces of a heel with a one-piececover and overlapping the opposite end portions of the cover upon theheel breast, cutting through both of said end portions of the cover in aplane inclined inwardly away from the edge of the outermost end portionof the cover, removing the waste material produced by the cuttingoperation, and uniting said beveled faces to form a flush joint betweenthe end portions of the cover.

15. That improvement in methods of cov- 5 ering heels which consists inapplying to the rear, side and breast of a heel a cover having endportions adapted to overlap one another, cutting through both endportions of the cover to produce beveled edges each having the sameangle of bevel and extending each in the same direction relatively tothe cover, removing the waste material produced by said cuttingoperation, and securing said beveled edges together with both endportions of the cover against the heel.

16. That improvement in methods of covering heels which consists inadhesively securing a one-piece cover to the rear, side and breastsurfaces of a heel, overlapping the opposite end portions of the coverat the heelbreast and temporarily securing them together, cuttingthrough both overlapping portions of the cover While they remainoverlapped against the heel breast to produce beveled edges lying eachin a plane inclined inwardly away from the edge of the outermost of theoverlapping cover portions, raising the outermost cover portion,removing the waste material produced by the trimming operation, coatingsaid beveled edges with adhesive, securing said raised portion of thecover to the heel breast, and pressing together said trimmed edges toform a flush 'oint. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thisspecification.

WILLIAM H. NUTT.

